Christian Churches

Changing Lifestyles

“God’s creation is in crisis… Our neglect, selfishness, and pride have fostered: pandemic poverty and disease; environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons and violence. Despite these interconnected threats to life and hope, God’s creative work continues. Despite the ways we all contribute to these problems, God still invites each one of us to participate in the work of renewal. We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds.”

– United Methodist Church, God’s Renewed Creatiion

The Need for Sustainability

“All of us can exercise stewardship by prudently and sensibly using those elements of the creation we need to sustain our own lives and the generations to follow.”

– Episcopal Church

Loving Commitment for our Children’s Children

“We believe that our planetary future is radically jeopardized by economic competition and growth unrestrained by a sense of limits about our place in the whole. Our love for our children and our children’s children requires us to raise serious questions about the level and methods of production and the wasteful style of consumption in the United States and other affluent nations and people.”

– United Church of Christ

Living in a World of Finite Resources

“In a world of finite resources, for all to have enough means that those with more than enough will have to change their patterns of acquisition and consumption. Sufficiency charges us to work with each other and the environment to meet needs without causing undue burdens elsewhere.”

– Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Call to a Less Materialistic Life

“The greenhouse and ozone problems reinforce the call to a less materialistic and wasteful style of life. It is unrealistic and self-serving to think that efficient and renewable energy technologies … now in the early stage of the transition, will… provide sufficient insurance against the potentially disastrous consequences of global warming-unless there is also a move away from unnecessary and wasteful production and consumption.”

– Presbyterian Church USA, Restoring Creation

Imagine if the Earth were divided equally among all of us. Each person would receive 4.5 acres. Now imagine that everything you need – food, energy, home, clothing, gadgets – must come from those 4.5 acres. But it takes 22.3 acres to maintain the average American lifestyle.There is a new way of observing Lent that helps us care for God’s creation by taking steps toward using only our fair share of its resources. Moving in the direction of 4.5 is essential for anyone walking in the footsteps of Jesus today.

Our Ministry

Lent 4.5 is a seven-week faith formation program which inspires and informs Christian communities on how to use the traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving to protect God’s creation, embrace Gospel justice and nurture spiritual fulfillment. It offers practical opportunities for people of faith to apply the values of Christian Simplicity to their everyday lives.